Friday, February 18, 2011

By now you know I have little good things to say about the Discovery Institute. Hopefully you also understand my reasoning's, since I certainly try and make it clear here. But just in case there is any doubt, here is a pretty typical example.

You may not know that I have GoogleNews set to send me links to articles based on a number of criteria. It, of course, includes the Discovery Institute and Evolution. I add more as other items tweak my interest. After David Coppedge flied his suit, I added him to my notification list. In my email this morning was this little gem:

So here is the Discovery Institute is announcing 'an excellent report' from World Magazine with new insights. If you bother clicking on the link you get another opinion piece by a DI staffer which offers absolutely nothing new. From there you can get to the World Magazine -- or more accurately it would be nice if the Discovery Institute might mention the fact that 'World News' is not a news organization, but an organization who takes the news and offers a Christian Viewpoint. It is actually more than just a Christian Viewpoint, if you read their own About page you will find it is more an Evangelical Christian Viewpoint, at least in my opinion -- but then what else am I supposed to think when I see things like:

"We stand for factual accuracy and biblical objectivity, trying to see the worldas best we can the way the Bible depicts it. "

So rather than get into the whole "Of course there is nothing religious about Intelligent Design" thing (addressed in 1, 2, 3, and 4 other posts), we have the DI pointing to an Evangelical Christian web site that offers NOTHING new. It's simply more comments from Coppedge and his attorney. Oh, it does have another quote from . . . guess who? Why Casey Luskin himself! Yes, the Discovery Institute is referencing an article quoting one of their own mouthpieces and claims it is 'excellent' and 'new insights'. Did they fail to mention Coppedge's Creation Safari's side business? Oh, but there is nothing religious about ID, is there?

So I guess now we know what constitutes 'excellent' in the eyes of the Discovery Institute, a quote from their own propaganda pieces reflected back at them. And you wonder why I take nothing they say without a large bag of salt!

For the record:

Something excellent would be maybe a comment from JPL or their own attorneys commenting on the merits of the case.

Something new would be some of the other JPL employees confirming or contradicting Coppedge's claims.

Hell, something new would be the Discovery Institute NOT using a religiously motivated website to spread their own brand of propaganda.

Of the three I think the first one has an excellent chance of happening, especially after the June 2011 hearing starts. The second one may happen during the hearing as well. The third . . . . hmmmm . . . what are the odds of the Discovery Institute no longer using people's religion and other religious website to spread their nonsense? I don't expect to ever see them stopping! I see it as a form of religious abuse -- while I think they use it as a fund raiser. But then, let's repeat the refrain, there's nothing religious about Intelligent Design! Say that three times fast and keep a straight face.

Welcome to my little corner of the Internet

This blog is more a way for me to clarify my own thinking and opinions more than for any other purpose. I like writing things down, having links to source material, and offering my own $.02. I find a blog let's me do that. I encourage comments and emails from any who wish to do so. I am not shy, as you might have noticed, and I am also not afraid of a dissenting view. I might disagree with you, but I will defend your right to say what you think as well as I expect the same respect!

Why blog on this particular topic? Well after seeing the tactics of groups like the Discovery Institute, I couldn't stay silent on the subject. After the Discovery Institute spins their lies, after the defendants in the Dover trial LIED under oath, and after Texas fired their state science curriculum director for forwarding an email appropriate to her duties-- I couldn't sit back and just watch.

I don't filter any comments, with two exceptions. Comments that are nothing more than a link to some other website hawking some service or material will get deleted. Also any comment that is abusive or derogatory will also get deleted. To date (July 2016) I have had to delete very few service/material types and only one truly abusive comment!

Thanks.

About Me

I am a family man who works in Ohio, Information Technology and computer programming are my areas of expertise. For those of you who know me, growing grass in my backyard is obviously not, so quit laughing!
Why blog? In all honesty, why not? It's fun, has been very educational, and it also has offered me insights into people and positions I may not have thought much about before. (http://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers)